Bulk bin and bag dispensing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A bulk bin and bag dispensing apparatus comprises a bag fitment having an elongated buttress female thread and a nipple adapted to be joined to the bag fitment. The nipple comprises an elongated body portion having an axial flow passage therethrough and a projection portion extends radially therefrom. The body portion further includes a first end and a second end. The first end is defined by male buttress thread thereto and the second end is defined by NPT thread thereto. The first end includes a ring cutter and at least one sealing means attached thereto so that the nipple strokes threadedly within the elongated buttress female thread causing the ring cutter to puncture a bag membrane to thereby permit liquid to be dispensed through the flow passage.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to bulk shipping containers and moreparticularly, to an improved dispensing apparatus used in a bulk bin andbag combination or bag-in-box for storage and dispensing of a flowablematerial. The bag-in-box as known in the art is type of a container forthe storage and transportation of liquid or semi-liquid material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Containers and/or intermediate bulk container (IBC) is a container usedfor transport and storage of fluids and bulk materials. They aregenerally cubic in form and therefore can transport more material in thesame area than cylindrically shaped containers and far more than mightbe shipped in the same space if packaged in consumer quantities. Theygenerally rely on plastic liners that can be filled and dispensed with avariety of systems. The manufacturer/processor of a product can bulkpackage a product in one country and ship it to many other countries ata reasonably low cost where it is subsequently packaged in finalconsumer form or consumed in industrial processes IBCs range in size butare generally 220 to 330 gallons. The length and width of an IBC isusually dependent on the pallet dimension standard of a given country.Historically, the standard dispense fitment on an IBC bag liner has hada 2″ British Standard Pipe (BSP) thread. The dispense fitment isgenerally made of a relatively soft polyethylene material so that it canbe welded to the polyethylene film used to construct the bag. Todispense the product from the bag, the membrane on the dispense fitmentis punctured. Furthermore to facilitate dispensing, a valve is typicallythreaded into the dispense fitment. The valve either has a mating malethread or utilizes a nipple to join the valve to the fitment. Generally,the membrane is punctured by use of a crown cutter or a needle insertedon the end of the nipple. As the valve or nipple is threaded into thedispense fitment, the ring cutter is pushed through the bag membrane or,alternatively, the needle cuts the bag membrane as it moves through theplane of the membrane. The British Standard Pipe (BSP) threads are afine thread which forms a reasonable seal while the nipple is threadedin and the membrane is punctured.

When using a bulk bin container, such as SpaceKraft® having a thick sidewall and having 2″ BSP thread in a soft fitment, often leads to crossthreading when trying to insert a dispense valve or nipple. This happensdue to a number of factors such as 1) poor light in operations where theIBC will be dispensed and the fact that 2) the soft fitment tends to goout of round when resting against the side of the dispense hole in thecontainer and 3) the general difficulty in starting soft fine threads.To overcome this problem, SpaceKraft® introduces the use of a buttressthreaded dispense fitment. This fitment has a coarse thread which isvery difficult to cross-thread. The fitment is also designed to resistgoing out of round. Although the buttress fitment solved the crossthreading problem it created a new challenge and that was a means topuncture the bag membrane. To solve this problem, a cutter tool wascreated that threaded into the outlet side of the valve and with thevalve open and in position it passed through the valve and punctured themembrane. The cutter tool was then retracted and the valve closed. Whenremoving the cutter tool prior to installing an outlet fitting, a smallamount of product had to be collected or was spilled on the floor.

In an attempt to eliminate the need for the cutter tool, the use a crowncutter with the buttress thread was developed. However, the problem herewas that the coarse threads allowed a lot of product to leak whilethreading in the nipple and the membrane having been punctured. Toovercome this problem, a special wiper seal that was a molded part ofthe buttress dispense fitment was made. However, this approach did notproduce a complete seal and a small amount of product still was leakedout and was unacceptable for many customers and many products.

Accordingly, there is a need for an affordable, functional bulkcontainer or intermediate bulk container (IBC) having a dispensingapparatus for discharging liquids and semi-liquid fluids from thecontainer and is free from the disadvantages of the aforementioneddispensing system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The improved intermediate bulk container (IBC) employs a buttressdispensing apparatus with internal sealing surface, special nipple orring cutter assembly with sealing surfaces while threading the nipple inand the membrane is being punctured by the ring cutter.

This invention provides a solution to dispensing IBC bag liners thateliminates cross threading by using a coarse buttress thread andeliminates leakage when using an external cutter tool. The inventionalso eliminates leakage while threading in a buttress nipple when usinga ring cutter. When comparing the use of a ring cutter and BSP threadedfitments, the present invention provides a seal that doesn't rely on thethreads for the seal and eliminates the need for a ring cutter to beprovided with each and every bag as it has been the practice. Thisinvention thus eliminates a step in the dispensing process. Typically,when using a ring cutter one has to first removes the plug, removes thering cutter, insert the ring cutter facing the membrane and then insertthe valve and nipple into the dispense fitment. With the presentinvention, only remove the plug and insert the valve/nipple/cutterassembly.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention relates to a bulk binand bag dispensing apparatus comprises a bag fitment having an elongatedbuttress female thread and a nipple adapted to be joined to the bagfitment. The nipple comprises an elongated body portion having an axialflow passage therethrough and a projection portion extends radiallytherefrom. The body portion further includes a first end and a secondend. The first end is defined by male buttress thread thereto and thesecond end is defined by NPT thread thereto. The first end includes aring cutter and at least one sealing means attached thereto so that thenipple stroke threadedly within the elongated buttress female threadcausing the ring cutter to puncture a bag membrane to thereby permitliquid to be dispensed through the flow passage.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a dispensingapparatus for use with intermediate bulk container defined by a bag andbox combination. The bag and box combination is comprised of acollapsible bulk bin and a bag flexible material. The dispensingapparatus comprises a bag fitment having an elongated buttress femalethread. A first annular flange and a second annular flange are spacedaxially from one another and each of which extends radially from thebuttress female thread. A nipple is adapted to be joined to the bagfitment. The nipple comprises an elongated body portion having an axialflow passage therethrough. The body portion further includes a first endand a second end defined by annular grooves. A projection portionextends radially between the first end and the second end. At least oneO-ring seal is disposed onto the annular groove of the first end of thebody portion. A ring cutter is adapted to be joined to the first end ofthe body portion. The nipple drives through the elongated buttressfemale thread puncturing the bag membrane to thereby permits liquid tobe dispensed through the flow passage while the nipple seats inside thebuttress female thread and forms a complete seal within the bag fitmentprior to the ring cutter punctures the bag membrane.

One further aspect of the present invention relates to a dispensingapparatus for use with intermediate bulk container defined by a bag andbox combination. The bag and box combination is comprised of acollapsible bulk bin and a bag flexible material. The dispensingapparatus comprises a bag fitment having an elongated buttress femalethread. A first annular flange and a second annular flange are spacedaxially from one another and each of which extends radially from thebuttress female thread. A nipple is adapted to be joined to the bagfitment. The nipple comprises an elongated body portion having an axialflow passage therethrough wherein the body portion further includes afirst end and a second end. The first end is defined by male buttressthread thereto and the second end is defined by NPT thread thereto. Aprojection portion extends radially between the first end and the secondend. Two O-ring gaskets each of which is attached to respective opposedsides of the projection portion. Two O-ring seals are disposed onto theannular groove of the first end of the body portion so as to completelyseals the first end of the body portion within the buttress femalethread. A ring cutter is adapted to be joined to the first end of thebody portion. The first end of the body portion strokes threadedlywithin the elongated buttress female thread causing the ring cutter topuncture a bag membrane to thereby permit liquid to be dispensed throughthe flow passage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing, as well as other objects and advantages of the invention,will become apparent from the following detailed description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several views, andwherein:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of an intermediate bulk container (IBC)defined by a bag and box combination receiving a dispensing apparatus inaccordance to the preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded top perspective view of the dispensing apparatusused with the intermediate bulk container (IBC) of FIG. 1 in accordanceto the preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is the fully assembled top perspective view of the dispensingapparatus of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a half sectional top perspective view of the dispensingapparatus shown in FIG. 3 to depict the interior thereof; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the dispensing apparatus taken alongline 5-5 of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of an intermediate bulk container (IBC)10 defined by a bag and box combination receiving a dispensing apparatus(not shown in FIG. 1) in accordance to the preferred embodiment of theinvention. The bag and box combination is comprised of a rigid bulk binor box 14 and a plastic bag 16 made of suitable flexible material suchas plastic. One particularly suitable container for forming the rigidbulk bin 14 is sold by International Paper Company under the trademarkSpaceKraft™. The bulk bin 14 is made from a continuously wound sleeve oflinerboard and corrugated medium to create a package that is six to tenlayers thick with no seam. This seamless construction has nomanufacturing joint which offers extraordinary strength-up to 75,000pounds of top-to-bottom compression strength without wood or metalcomponents. However, one of ordinary skilled in the art would appreciatethat the invention may also be used with other outer rigid bulk bin. Theplastic bag is made of low density food grade polyethylene that canoperate effectively from −20° C. to more than +40° C. The plastic bag 16is supported inside the bulk bin 14 for containing liquids orsemi-liquid fluids. When filling the plastic bag 16 with a liquid, afilling valve is attached to its upper end to pour in liquid and thenthe plastic bag 16 is sealed with a removable cap 18. During dispensingthe liquid from the plastic bag 16, the dispense fitment plug 17 isremoved and a dispensing apparatus 12 is attached thereto to dispensethe liquid from the plastic bag.

Referring to FIGS. 2-5, and particularly to FIG. 2 which is an explodedtop perspective view of the dispensing apparatus 12 used with theintermediate bulk container (IBC) of FIG. 1 in accordance to thepreferred embodiment of the invention. The dispensing apparatus 12includes a nipple 20, two ring gaskets 22 a, 22 b, two O-ring seals 24a, 24 b, a ring cutter 28 and a bag fitment 26. The nipple 20 ispreferably made of glass fill nylon, polypropylene or PVC oralternatively a high density polyethylene. The bag fitment 26 each ispreferably made of a relatively soft polyethylene material such that iseasily welded to the polyethylene film used to form the bag 16. Thenipple 20 includes a mating male thread body portion 30 that includes aradial projection portion 32 and an axial dispensing or flow passage 34therethrough. The projection portion 32 extends radially from the bodyportion 30. The body portion 30 has a respective first and secondthreaded ends 35 & 36 and is provided with a pair of annular grooves 37on the first end that receives O-ring seals 24 a, 24 b that cooperateswith a cooperating face 38 of bag fitment 26 to seal the flow passage 34when the dispensing apparatus 12 is moved from its open position clearof the flow passage 34 to a close position with the O-ring seals 24 a,24 b encircling and forming a seal around the outer periphery of theflow passage 34. The first and second threaded ends 35 and 36 may havedifferent outer diameter on opposed side of the projection portion 32.The ring gasket 22 a is disposed on one side of the body portion 30 andthe ring gasket 22 b is disposed on the opposed side of the body portion30 with respect to the ring gasket 22 a as will be discussedhereinafter. The bag fitment 26 includes a buttress female thread 27formed therein and is provided with a first annular flange 39 and asecond annular mounting flange 40 that spaced axially from the firstannular flange 39 and extends radially at the inner axial end of the bagfitment 26. The mounting flange 40 is mounted or otherwise secured tothe plastic bag 16 around the full periphery of the mounting flangesurface 41, i.e., to completely surround and thus seal the flow passage34. It will be noted that the mounting flange 40 of the bag fitment 26extends through a hole in a bag liner so that the flange 40 ispositioned within the bag liner i.e. the outside surface 41 of theflange 40 is in face to face relationship with and is secured in sealingrelationship with the inner surface of the bag liner (not shown). Thering cutter 28 has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the innerdiameter of the buttress female thread 27 so that it can removablydrives through the bag fitment 26. The ring cutter 28 has a serratedcutting edge 42 that is used for puncturing through the membrane (notshown). The membrane is a separate piece of film that is welded acrossthe bag of the bag fitment surface 41. The ring cutter 28 is made of,but not limited to, hard plastic material such as polypropylene. One endof the nipple 20 having the ring cutter 28 attached thereto isthreadedly attached to the bag fitment 26 and other end is threadedlyattached to a valve system (not shown).

The dispensing apparatus 12 is constructed as depicted in FIG. 3 byplacing the ring gasket 22 b against the radial projection portion 32and then each of the O-ring seals 24 a, 24 b is received in the firstend of the annular grooves 37. Next the ring cutter 28 is attached tothe first end of the nipple 20. Next, the side of the nipple 20 havingthe O-ring seals 24 a, 24 b and the ring cutter 28 is now threadedlyinserted into the buttress female thread 27 of the bag fitment 26.Finally, positioning the gasket 22 a against radial projection portion32 of the other end of the dispensing apparatus 12 and the other end ofthe dispensing apparatus 12 is attached to the valve system (not shown).

FIG. 4 is a half sectional top perspective view of the dispensingapparatus shown in FIG. 3 to depict the interior thereof and FIG. 5 is across-sectional view of the dispensing apparatus taken along lines 5-5of FIG. 3. It should be noted that the bag fitment 26 has a sealingsurface 38 with an Internal Diameter (ID) less than or equal to theInternal Diameter (ID) of the bag fitment threads 27 and the nipple 20has a sealing surface or multiple sealing surfaces 37 with o-ringgaskets 24 a and 24 b on it to mate up with the internal sealing surfaceof the bag fitment 38. The length of the bag fitment sealing surface andthe nipple sealing surfaces should exceed the stroke of the nipple 20threads such that a seal is maintained prior to the membrane beingpunctured and the nipple 20 is fully seated. Furthermore the ring cutter28 is made so as to fit at the end of the nipple 20 in such that itdoesn't puncture the membrane prior to the nipple threads 36 engagingwith the bag fitment 26 and the seals 24 a, 24 b engaging and yet fullypuncture the bag membrane prior to the nipple threads 36 fully seating.

It should be noted that proper engagement of the nipple 20 with the bagfitment 26 is important in discharging the liquid from the bag 16through the dispensing apparatus 12 without any leaks during operationand eliminating extra steps that had been the case in prior designed. Toproperly engage, the nipple 20 is inserted into bag fitment 26 such thatnipple threads 36 engage with bag fitment threads 27 prior to the ringcutter 42 puncturing the membrane. The nipple 20 is threaded into thebag fitment 26 thus driving the ring cutter 28 forward and does so suchthat the first O-ring seal 24 b in groove 37 makes contact with the bagfitment sealing surface 38 thus sealing off the flow passage 34 prior tothe ring cutter 28 puncturing the membrane. The nipple 20 is threaded inand the membrane is punctured. The nipple 20 is threaded in such thatthe second O-ring seal 24 a in groove 37 makes contact with bag fitmentsealing surface 38 at the while the first O-ring seal 24 b is still incontact. The nipple 20 is threaded in completing the puncturing of themembrane until it is seated against the bag fitment 26 such that gasket22 b makes contact with projection 32 and the end of the bag fitment.While this is happening, the first O-ring seal 24 b moves past the bagfitment sealing surface 38 and inside the bag 16 leaving the secondO-ring seal 24 a to maintain the seal until the gasket 22 b forms aseal. For achieving the aforementioned engagement, the OD of the nipplesurface adjacent to the grooves 37 must be smaller than the ID of thethreads 27 in the bag fitment 26 to allow the nipple 20 to pass through.Therefore, in order to form a positive seal, the ID of the bag fitmentsealing surface 38 should be slightly larger than the OD of the nipple20 but also smaller than the ID of the threads 27. The gap is filled bythe O-ring seals thus creating compression of the O-ring to form a seal.

The inventors of the present invention have re-designed the bag fitment26 with the smaller internal sealing surface 38 and the nipple 20 isredesigned to accommodate the O-ring or elastomer over molded seals suchthat a positive seal is accomplished. The spacing of the grooves 37 hadto be also smaller than the length of the sealing surface 38 to maintaina continuous seal and yet maintain a seal for the entire stroke of thenipple threads 36 to accomplish a complete puncture of the membrane. Thethread stroke is approximately half inch while the sealing surface isless than half inch. This length was constrained so that the overallheight of the bag fitment to be 1 ½″ tall.

Alternative means for accomplishing the aforementioned steps would be tonot put the grooves or o-rings in the nipple 20 but rather mold the bagfitment 26 with a seal built into the sealing surface 38 such that thenipple 20 makes continuous contact while it is being threaded in. Thisconfiguration may be easier to do as one would only need one seal andwouldn't have to worry about the geometry of maintaining a seal. Howeverthis would create some practical challenges with regards to molding,i.e., making the wall thickness sufficient to hold a seal would causesome dimensional stability challenges.

In use, the dispense fitment plug 17 is removed and the first end of thedispensing apparatus 12 is attached to the bag 16 by means of the bagfitment 26 and the other end of the dispensing apparatus 12 is attachedto a valve dispenser (not shown) to permit the discharge of liquid fromthe intermediate bulk container 10. Since the ring cutter 28 is attachedto the end of nipple 20, thus as the nipple 20 moves toward themembrane, the ring cutter 28 moves to puncture the bag 16. At thispoint, the liquid can be transferred out from the bag 16 through theflow passage 34. To prevent liquid from being dispensed immediatelyafter the bag membrane is punctured, the valve dispenser remains inclosed position. To dispense liquid from the intermediate bulk container10, the valve dispenser can be opened to permit liquid to flow from thebag 16 through the axial flow passage 34 in the dispensing apparatus 12and out through the valve dispenser.

Although buttress threads are preferred in the invention, but one ofordinary skilled in the art would appreciate that other threads wouldwork as well. The seals can be O-rings or over molded elastomer seals orany other gasket seal. Alternatively, the seal could also be molded intothe dispensing apparatus. The height of the fitment isn't critical solong as the geometry of the fitment/nipple and ring cutter match toaccomplish a seal during the entire process of puncturing and seatingthe nipple. The inventors envision the ring cutter snapping over the endof the nipple such that it is free to rotate (important to cut the bagmembrane correctly) but yet will hold the ring cutter in position whiledispensing the liquid from the bag and will retrieve the ring cutterwhen retracting the nipple from the bag fitment. The design of the ringcutter to maximize the bore size and create a full cut with minimumstroke are important not critical to the invention.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many differentforms, there is shown, in the drawings, several specific embodimentswith the understanding that the present disclosure is to be consideredas an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is notintended to limit the invention to the embodiments illustrated. It willbe understood that like or analogous elements and/or components,referred to herein, are identified throughout the drawings by likereference characters. In addition, it will be understood that thedrawings are merely representations of the present invention, and someof the components may have been distorted from actual scale for purposesof pictorial clarity.

What is claimed is:
 1. A bulk bin and bag dispensing apparatuscomprising: a bag fitment having an elongated buttress female thread;and a nipple adapted to be joined to the bag fitment, the nipplecomprising an elongated body portion having an axial flow passagetherethrough and a projection portion extends radially therefrom, thebody portion further includes a first end and a second end wherein thefirst end defined by male buttress thread thereto and the second enddefined by NPT thread thereto, the first end includes a ring cutter andat least one sealing means attached thereto so that the nipple strokesthreadedly within the elongated buttress female thread causing the ringcutter to puncture a bag membrane to thereby permits liquid to bedispensed through the flow passage.
 2. The dispensing apparatus of claim1 wherein the at least one sealing means includes two O-ring seals thatare disposed on the first end of the body portion.
 3. The dispensingapparatus of claim 1 further comprising two O-ring gaskets each of whichis respectively attached to corresponding opposed sides of theprojection portion.
 4. The dispensing apparatus of claim 1 wherein thesecond annular flange is a mounting flange that is attached to a plasticbag contained in a bulk bin.
 5. The dispensing apparatus of claim 1wherein the nipple forms a complete seal within the bag fitment prior tothe ring cutter punctures the bag membrane.
 6. The dispensing apparatusof claim 1 wherein the second end of the body portion is attached to avalve to discharge the liquid from the bag.
 7. A dispensing apparatusfor use with intermediate bulk container defined by a bag and boxcombination wherein the bag and box combination is comprised of acollapsible bulk bin and a bag flexible material, the dispensingapparatus comprising: a bag fitment having an elongated buttress femalethread, a first annular flange and a second annular flange spacedaxially from one another and each of which extends radially from thebuttress female thread; a nipple adapted to be joined to the bagfitment, the nipple comprising an elongated body portion having an axialflow passage therethrough wherein the body portion further includes afirst end and a second end defined by annular grooves, a projectionportion extends radially between the first end and the second end, atleast one O-ring seal being disposed onto the annular groove of thefirst end of the body portion, a ring cutter being adapted to be joinedto the first end of the body portion wherein the nipple drives throughthe elongated buttress female thread puncturing the bag membrane tothereby permits liquid to be dispensed through the flow passage whilethe nipple seats inside the buttress female thread and forms a completeseal within the bag fitment prior to the ring cutter punctures the bagmembrane.
 8. The dispensing apparatus of claim 7 wherein the at leastO-ring seal includes two O-ring seals that are disposed on the first endof the body portion.
 9. The dispensing apparatus of claim 7 dispensingfitment of claim 1 further comprising two O-ring gaskets each of whichis respectively attached to corresponding opposed sides of theprojection portion.
 10. A dispensing apparatus for use with intermediatebulk container defined by a bag and box combination wherein the bag andbox combination is comprised of a collapsible bulk bin and a bagflexible material, the dispensing apparatus comprising: a bag fitmenthaving an elongated buttress female thread, a first annular flange and asecond annular flange spaced axially from one another and each of whichextends radially from the buttress female thread; a nipple adapted to bejoined to the bag fitment, the nipple comprising an elongated bodyportion having an axial flow passage therethrough wherein the bodyportion further includes a first end and a second end wherein the firstend defined by male buttress thread thereto and the second end definedby NPT thread thereto, a projection portion extends radially between thefirst end and the second end, two O-ring gaskets each of which attachedto respective opposed sides of the projection portion, two O-ring sealsbeing disposed onto the annular groove of the first end of the bodyportion so as to completely seals the first end of the body portionwithin the buttress female thread, a ring cutter being adapted to bejoined to the first end of the body portion and wherein the first end ofthe body portion strokes threadedly within the elongated buttress femalethread causing the ring cutter to puncture a bag membrane to therebypermit liquid to be dispensed through the flow passage.